Sunday, April 13, 2014

Raptormania: Snowy Owls vs. Osprey

With this winter's unusual flood of snowy owls, I'd been wondering if they'd stick around long enough to come into conflict with returning ospreys, which nest in many of the same spots the owls are using.

Sure enough, researcher with our local Manomet Center for Conservation Studies photographed this squabble between a snowy owl and an osprey at Angelica Point in Mattapoisett, home to several nesting pairs of osprey from April to October. The snowy owls literally can't take the heat, so they'll migrate north by May at the latest.